Qualcomm, Google partner to make RISC-V chip for wearable devices

Chip designer Qualcomm said on Tuesday it is partnering with Alphabet’s Google to make wearable devices like smartwatches using chips based on RISC-V technology.

RISC-V, pronounced as “risk five,” is an open-source technology that competes with costly proprietary technology from British chip designer Arm Holdings.

RISC-V can be used as a key ingredient for anything from a smartphone chip to advanced processors for artificial intelligence.

U.S. companies are still actively working to advance RISC-V based technology despite concerns expressed by lawmakers that China is exploiting a culture of open collaboration among American companies to advance its own semiconductor industry.

Qualcomm said it plans to commercialize the RISC-V-based wearables solution globally including the United States.

It would help more products within the Android ecosystem to take advantage of custom processors that are low power and high performance, Qualcomm said.